Inuyasha and the Christmas Spirit
by Holly Claus
Summary: Inuyasha gets a strange chance to learn about the spirit of Christmas, but will he allow himself to learn from it? KagomeInuyasha


Inuyasha and all the other characters belong to whoever owns the Inuyasha show. Santa Claus is in the public domain.

Once upon a time Inuyasha and his friends were in the woods of the Sengoku Jidai and they met a demon. It tried to steal Kagome, but Inuyasha went after it and fought it. It almost killed him, but he kept fighting even after he was severely hurt because he loved Kagome (even though he wouldn't say so) and he couldn't stand to see her torn apart by a demon, also the demon stole some fragments of the Jewel thing from Kagome and it was going to get even bigger. So he had to keep going. He was slashed all over when he was done and there was blood everywhere.

"Oh, no," Kagome said, "you're horribly hurt and it was all my fault."

Inuyasha acted all cold and tried to pretend that it was just because of the jewel thing, but Kagome could see through him and so she said, "You can't stay here tonight. More monsters will probably attack. You should come home with me. There aren't as many demons and things in the future."

So Inuyasha agreed, besides he was really curious about Kagome's time, she had so much cool stuff! Kagome took him back through the well and told her mom that he was going to be staying there for the night. "He's hurt so bad," She said. "Is it OK? He can sleep in my bed and I can sleep on the couch."

"Keh!" Inuyasha said. "I'm not letting anyone say I turned a girl out of her own bed. You can sleep in your own bed. I'll sleep on that couch thing."

"OK," Kagome's mom said. "I'll put sheets on it."

"OK," Inuyasha said. "By the way, what is a couch?"

Kagome's mom facefaulted.

When everyone was off the floor and the couch was all made up, Kagome said good night to Inuyasha. "Remember," She said, "tomorrow is Christmas so we'll have to get up early to go to church."

"If I ask you what Christmas is, will you fall on the floor like your mom?" Inuyasha said.

Kagome faceplanted.

"But I didn't even ask!" Inuyasha said.

"Christmas is a holiday," Kagome said. "It's the day Baby Jesus was born. We give each other gifts like the Wise men gave Jesus, and then we go to church and sing. It's a holiday about love."

Inuyasha looked very uncomfortable. He didn't like talking about love with Kagome. He loved her so much, it was hard not to let it come shining out of his eyes when he looked at her, and talking about love made it even harder. He wanted to just kiss and hold her.

"I don't have any gifts," Inuyasha said. "You didn't tell me it was Christmas."

"It's OK," Kagome said. Her eyes were shining. "You got yourself really badly hurt just to save me, and that's the best gift anyone has ever given me."

Inuyasha felt all melty inside. He squirmed. "Keh. I only saved you because of the jewel thing," He said.

Normally, Kagome would have bashed him over the head, or screamed at him, or smushed his face into the ground by yelling Sit!. But tonight she only smiled at him. It was Christmas Eve, and she felt so warm and happy that she could see right through Inuyasha's shell. "You can say mean things if you want to," She said. "But I know the truth."

Inuyasha looked stunned, like someone had smacked him upside the head with a board with a nail in it. She knew! She saw! He knew he had to say something really mean really fast, and then Kagome would be mean back and he could stop feeling all soft and runny like he wanted to hug her forever. But he was so surprised and astonished and flabbergasted and bewildered that he couldn't say anything, and he just sat there with his mouth hanging open. Kagome giggled because there's nothing so cute as a half-demon with fangs with his mouth hanging open. She kissed him on top of his head. "Merry Christmas Eve, Inuyasha," She said. "May you have special dreams tonight."

Then she skipped upstairs. Inuyasha watched her go. He watched her silky hair bounce, and he just wanted to press it to his lips. He sat on the couch with his mouth hanging open for so long that his tongue dried out, but he didn't care, because all he could see or hear or feel was Kagome saying, "I know the truth," and kissing him on top of the head. He could even feel her along the edge of one ear, where her cheek had brushed his soft white fur. And all the time he loved her more and more, and all he wanted to do was hold her, and stroke her hair, and look into her shining eyes. He couldn't think of anything else. Not even his tongue.

Then there was a sound from the fireplace, and he went onto high alert. There was a demon attacking! And it was coming from the fireplace! And he was all hurt, so he could barely move! He was still all melty and warm inside, so he could barely collect his thoughts, but he put his claws out and waited. He looked really cool in his defensive posture in the firelight. Even if he was wearing red plaid flannel pajamas.

And then the demon fell into the fireplace, putting out the fire. He was huge! He was ENORMOUS! He had the whitest hair Inuyasha had ever saw, and he had a red suit on that didn't even get smudged by the fire, so it must be made out of fire rat fur like Inuyasha's kimono thing, and he had a huge bag that must be full of weapons! Inuyasha tried to get up and pulled his stitches and sat down again with a groan. But a macho groan. He was still trying to intimidate the huge red demon-thing, who had ignored him and gone over to the table and was eating cookies.

"Hey!" Inuyasha said. "Those are Kagome's cookies!"

"They're MY cookies," The demon thing said, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"They're not your cookies, and I'm taking them back!" Inuyasha said. He tried to get up again. He groaned and sat back down. The fight wasn't going very well. Inuyasha wasn't very bright, but even he knew that your opponent wasn't supposed to eat cookies in the middle of a fight.

"Kagome left them out for me," The red demon thing said. "It's part of Christmas. I'm Santa Claus."

"She didn't say anything about Santa Claus," Inuyasha said. "Just about the three Wise men."

"I'm like all three Wise men rolled into one," The red demon thing said. "I go around giving gifts to people who have been good. Have you been good?"

Inuyasha started to swear, then stopped. He didn't want to admit it to a strange red demon-thing that stole cookies, but he'd been very bad. He was foul-mouthed and violent and he hit Shippo and he hurt Kagome all the time just because. Thinking of Kagome made him go completely melty again. "I've been horrible," He said. "I'm very mean."

"Well, let's see," The red demon-thing said. "Sometimes people think they've been bad when they've been very, very good." He wiped his hands on his pants and pulled a huge scroll out of his bag. "What's your name?"

"Inuyasha."

The demon thing looked for a very long time. Inuyasha started to feel hopeful. He wondered if maybe he wasn't such a bad person after all. He wondered what the red demon thing might give him for a present. It would be nice to get a present. No one ever gave him anything.

"You're not on the list at all," the red demon-thing said finally. "Everyone in the world is on this list. Who are you?"

"I'm a half-demon," Inuyasha said. "Your list probably only has humans."

"I give presents to EVERYONE," The demon said. "Last year, I even gave a Tamagotchi to a devil in Hell who had second thoughts about being there. It was nice not to have to hand out coal, coal, coal all the way through Hell."

"Coal? Is that what you give to bad people?" Inuyasha said.

"Yes," The demon-thing said.

"Is that why Hell is on fire?" Inuyasha said.

"That's neither here nor there," The demon thing said nervously. "Look, what are you? Where did you come from? Why aren't you on my list?"

"I'm from the past," Inuyasha said.

"Oh!" The demon-thing said. "My list is only for people from the present. But you're here now, so you're in the present now, and I should decide what to give you."

"How do you tell if I'm good or bad, Mr. Demon Thing?" Inuyasha said.

"Don't call me Mr. Demon Thing!" The demon-thing said. "My name is Santa Claus."

"Then how do you tell if I'm good or bad, Mr. Santa Claus?" Inuyasha said.

"I look into your eyes," Santa Claus said.

So Inuyasha let Santa Claus look into his eyes. First he tried to look good. But it felt false, and he hated trying to lie like that when he had hurt Kagome so very much. Then he tried to look bad, but it was hard to do that too when he was thinking about Kagome, because he felt bad when he thought about how he'd treated Kagome, but he loved her so very much that the love just shone out all around him. He went all liquid and soft inside, and his eyes went all liquid and soft, too.

Santa Claus frowned, but it was a kindly frown. "You think you've been very bad," He said, "but you look like you've been very good."

"I've been awful!" Inuyasha said. "I've been cruel to Kagome left, right, and center, and it's all because—" He stopped short.

"Because what?"

Inuyasha muttered something under his breath. It was the answer, but he had his pride to keep, even in front of chubby red demons who ate cookies in the middle of battle and passed out coal in Hell.

"I can't decide unless you tell me," Santa Claus said. Inuyasha looked up at him despairingly. Santa Claus looked so kind, with his round pink face and his soft white beard. The softness of it reminded Inuyasha of the softness of Kagome's hair, and that reminded him of how much he wanted to hug her, and that reminded him of how long it had been since he'd hugged anyone, and that was because he was so, so bad that no one would ever want to hug him. Except Kagome, and that was only because she didn't understand just how bad he was. A tear rolled down his cheek.

"I said, It's because I love Kagome so much and she'll never really love me back because as soon as she finds out what I'm like inside she'll stop loving me, and then she'll walk away. So if I'm mean to her, she can think that really there's more good inside, and that'll make her stick around because she's good like that. So I can't stop being mean to her," Inuyasha quavered. He sniffed. "But it's because I'm mean to her that I'm bad, because a person who had real good inside them wouldn't think like that. So there's no good in me, and I'm only pretending." He burst into tears. Santa Claus hugged him to his soft, soft red chest and rocked him back and forth, stroking his hair and making soothing noises.

"You know, if you were truly bad, you wouldn't feel guilty like you do now," Santa Claus murmured in Inuyasha's ear.

Inuyasha cried harder. He felt worse than ever, because if he had good inside him but he still acted so mean, then he must have horrible amounts of meanness, and that was just as bad as having less meanness but no good at all. Besides, Santa Claus whispering in his ear reminded him of Kagome's cheek brushing his ear, and that made him feel wobbly inside again, and he was just too broken-down to withstand it.

"There's good inside you," Santa Claus said softly. "Why won't you let it out?"

"Because if I let it out, Kagome will see that there's so little of it, and she'll leave!" Inuyasha sobbed. He clung to Santa Claus. Hugging Santa Claus felt so good. He was so warm, and being held by someone felt so nice.

"There are endless seas of goodness in you," Santa Claus whispered. "You're a sweet, kind, gentle person inside. I can feel it. Let it out. Show me."

Inuyasha shook his head frantically. If he showed his goodness to Santa Claus, Santa Claus would leave, too! He'd have what he wanted, and he'd go, and Inuyasha would have nothing but a cold, ordinary present in his place.

"Are you afraid that I'll leave?" Santa Claus murmured. Inuyasha shook his head hard. Lying was his only chance. He didn't know where he was going to go with the lie, but he sensed that it was essential.

"I'll show you," Santa Claus whispered. "I won't leave. Not until daybreak, when Kagome comes down. And then you'll have Kagome to show how good you are. Come on." He stroked Inuyasha's hair. "Show me how kind and tender and wonderful you can be."

Inuyasha looked up into Santa's twinkling blue eyes, and the last thin piece of his shell broke. He nodded silently.

On Christmas morning, Kagome bounced downstairs. She was pretty certain she knew what she was going to find. Inuyasha was going to be perched on top of some piece of furniture, sulking manlyly and acting like the present was the last time in the world he wanted to be in.

But Inuyasha wasn't perching on top of anything. He was curled up in a nest of sheets, with his flannel pajamas all rumpled cutely and his hair tangled up. His eyes were half-closed, and he looked contented and happy and--loving. He opened his eyes drowsily and smiled at Kagome, and Kagome thought she was going to burst. He'd never smiled at her before--never. He looked so cute doing it! She tried to open her mouth to say Good morning, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, because it would disturb the picture Inuyasha made.

"I love you, Kagome," Inuyasha said sleepily.

"W--wha?" Kagome said.

"I love you," Inyuasha said. "I always loved you. You're the kindest girl I know, and the sweetest, and you were always good to me when I was mean to you. I was mean to you all this time because I was afraid that if you saw me as I really am, you'd run away." He sat up. A lock of his silky white hair trailed over his shoulder. "But I'm not afraid any more."

Now it was Kagome's turn to look like she'd been hit by a board with a nail in it. She wondered whether she really should run away. Inuyasha was acting like she'd always dreamed he would act, but was he real? Or had Santa Claus taken the real Inuyasha away and replaced him with a better one as his Christmas gift to her? A stab of pain ran through her heart. She couldn't bear the thought that this might not be the real Inuyasha, even if he treated her better.

Inuyasha took advantage of her flabbergastion and reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. It felt like he had always dreamed, like spun threads of night. "Kagome," He said, "may I kiss you?"

"Gah--di bah--" Kagome said.

Inuyasha leaned forward and kissed her.

Her lips were soft and so, so warm, and after another stunned moment, she came alive again and kissed him back. If he thought that kissing her was a dream, being kissed back by her was paradise. He drew her to him, and her body was warm and soft, too. He hugged her and held her for what felt like forever, and felt her arms wrap around him and hold him, and that felt like forever in heaven.

After a long, long time, forever trickled to a stop, and Inuyasha lifted his head. "Kagome?" he said.

"Mmm?" Kagome was too blissed out to form words.

"Merry Christmas."

Several more forevers later, Kagome's mom and little brother came downstairs and hustled everyone into Sunday clothes to go to church. Kagome and Inuyasha were so drifty and dreamy that Kagome's mom had no trouble getting Inuyasha into a suit, and she even held him up to Souta as an example. Inuyasha was fortunately too blissed out to notice this blow to his machismo.

Kagome was too blissed out to notice anything but Inuyasha, but eventually she saw something so sparkly and bright that even she had to come out of it. There was a present on the hearth wrapped in shiny gold paper. It had a huge silver bow and a huge red tag that said, Inuyasha.

"What's this?" Kagome said. "That doesn't look like the present I was going to give you, Inuyasha."

"That's Santa Claus's present to me," Inuyasha said.

"Oh, my!" Kagome said. "What's in it?"

"It doesn't matter," Inuyasha said.

"But don't you want to know what's in it?" Kagome said.

"It's not important," Inuyasha said. He looked this way and that to make sure Kagome's mom and little brother were out of the room, then hugged Kagome and said, "I already have the real gift he gave me--the gift of love."

Months and months passed. Inuyasha and Kagome were so happy together that sometimes they even forgot they were in a fight. When Kagome went home to do her homework and stuff, Inuyasha went with her. He didn't even complain when she made him dress like a present-day person and put a baseball cap on to hide his ears, even though the cap squished his ears and made him itchy.

It was late in September when the surprise visitor came. A little man in a green velvet suit marched up Kagome's front walk, carrying a bundle. Inuyasha was sitting on the front porch, thinking about Kagome.

"Inuyasha?" The little man said.

"I'm Inuyasha," Inuyasha said. "What do you want?"

"Special delivery from Santa Claus."

"But it's not Christmas," Inuyasha said.

"The boss can't wait until Christmas," the little man said. "This is our heaviest production time. Here." He pushed the bundle into Inuyasha's hands and walked away.

"Production time? What? How--" The little man was gone. Inuyasha looked down at the bundle.

The bundle wriggled.

Some ancient instinct told Inuyasha that even though the bundle was clearly preparing to attack him, he shouldn't drop it. He slowly, slowly peeled away the pink fuzzy blanket that wrapped it.

A tiny face stared back at him. It was pink and round and had blue eyes like Santa Claus, and two tiny curled dog ears like Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's eyes went as big as saucers. There were some things he hadn't told Kagome about how he got the Christmas spirit. How was he going to ever tell her about THIS?


End file.
